Wow. My grandfather lost half of his ring finger in a slalom skiing accident back in the day. Similar story in that there was slack in the line that wrapped around his finger. When the rope tightened it pulled it right off. He said it came off like a cork coming out of a champagne bottle. Still haven't found the fish that might have his finger though.

A friend of mine almost lost his ankle when he fell off the back of the jetski. The line wrapped up around it and then jerked. Out of sheer dumb luck, the rope broke and he just wound up with a permanent ankle bracelet (he has a purple scar circling his ankle). He said it burned through everything rather than crushing it's way through. But it didn't get any ligaments, just a bunch of the tissue around the outside.